Save for the fun sit-in session with a great blues band one night while the frontman was away (once he returned, I found him to be terribly douchey and not very interested in my joining them agian), I've been wondering what Seattle had to offer in the way of music. I put up a Craigslist ad basically outlining what my influences were and what I was looking to do. In a town with more dumb, predictable, generic indie pop bands per square mile than anywhere else in the world, I wasn't hoping for much.

One response that jumped out at me was from a house DJ who was looking to put together a live band. That very concept is the foundation of DC Go-Go : having a band who can keep a party going non-stop better than a DJ ever could. And with the gospel and soul background, and the strong exposure to the Baltimore house scene over the years... it seemed like it could work. But any Seattle show I've been to with any sense of a danceable beat was met with cold hipster crossing-of-arms. Could Seattle dance?

They could. Our first show was Thursday and 65% of it was improvised on the spot. A good turnout was made better by a large party that was already in the venue before we started, and decided to stick around after they heard what we were doing. The band was excellent, especially considering we had about four prior rehearsals total, and were making it up as we went along. (long track, but fun, especially around 12m and 20m when I go all silly)

The same time this was going on, my beloved Egg Babies cover band in Baltimore was doing a show. I'd have loved to be there at the Ottobar covering everything from Evil Woman and Care of Cell 44 to Holiday Road from European Vacation, but alas, I was in charge of Seattle's sole bootyshakin' outlet that night.

Not content with the regular trips up to the mountains, I needed some fresh pine scent in my living room. I wound up picking up a real Christmas tree for the first time in years and years... the Boy Scouts were selling them a block away. I carried mine home. I don't have good pix of it yet, but they're coming. Its simple. White lights, red glass balls, a classic angel up top. Sara made me some fun ornaments, and I have a Space Needle ornament I picked up for $1 at Safeway. More decorations are pending.

I spent all day today wrapping up my cards and presents, reflecting back on the year, and just feeling good. Here's hoping the holidays are having the same effect on you.

The following picture was a candidate for this year's Christmas card, but was rejected for its inherent cheesiness. (Honestly, it was just the smile... c'mon man... you can't really be *that* happy can you?) Fortunately, yes.

I never thought I'd say this, but BMW truly had the most interesting bikes in the entire show. While the Big 4 Japanese manufacturers still show one innovative sportbike and 27 decade-old legacy cruisers and dirt bikes that no one cares about, BMW's *oldest* model on display was introduced in 2003. My favorites were the new F800GS, an 85hp parallel-twin true dual-sport with 21" front wheel and 9" of shock travel that gets 60mpg even with full hard luggage (and sends both V-Stroms cowering in the corner), and the HP2 Sport limited-run track bike slathered in carbon fiber and more trick race parts than ever, hinting at BMW's eventual World SBK premiere next year. We also debuted a 450 motocross bike that locks horns with KTM, who happened to debut a new line of street-only bikes aimed square at the blue propellers. BMW v. KTM will no doubt be the big battle of the next 10 years.

I've been looking at dual-sports a lot. Washington is full of gravel and dirt roads that meander into nowhere... there are far more trails in this state than there are paved roads. I could probably get a good deal on a BMW F650, and the KLR is even cheaper and more ubiquitous... but I test-sat a Suzuki DR-650 today and damn if it wasn't perfect. And its oil-cooled and carbureted! And hilariously cheap! So cheap, I can just keep the Seca II and have two outdated, low-tech, old-fashioned Japanese bikes that are indestructible and not sexy at all. Bonus!

Enough motorcycle babble. Did I mention I also paid some really cute tomboyish lesbians to squirt goo in my ear? It was a great day. And we had snow. Oh, and lots of beer. And I can't make it through the cold and rainy winter here without the Hazlewood hot toddy. Jessica knows to make mine with bourbon, too. And muddled ginger. God, I love that bar.

Like I said, a new round of music is on your right (is anyone even listening to those??). Life's good. Hope it is for you, too-

(December, 2001 - 13 years old)

Got notice from Dad today that Tiffany, the runt kitten I picked out one day when I was 10, the cat who has seen our family through more highs and lows than most of our actual family, the shadowy grey menace that struck fear into the hearts of birds, rabbits, moles, snakes, and Christmas presents throughout Bowie... will be put down tomorrow morning.

Second only to 23 year old Snuggy (who found my parents as newlyweds and stuck around well into my pre-teen years), and a good friend of hers, Tiff was the best friend of (and outlived) both Katy 1 and Katy 2, though she never quite warmed up to Sally the Independent. I think it was mutual jealousy over one another's impressive kill ratios. I'm sure there was an unspoken respect deep down.

Despite being "mine" in so much as I always wanted a kitten that would never grow up (and I nailed it)... she proudly perched herself in Dad's lap more often than not. I can still see Dad and Tiff asleep on the couch on a Sunday, football on in the background, a fire in the fireplace, a bowl of popcorn propped up against them, both snoring loudly.

She kept active well past the time most cats would slow down. She showed signs of kidney failure and thyroid problems years ago, and had a few grim moments when we thought she wouldn't make it... but after Mom's passing, it truly seemed like she was determined to keep Dad company as long as she needed to. She almost seemed to get younger there for a while.

Despite having spent her entire life in one place (usually outside in the woods behind our house in Bowie), she handled the big changes well, living briefly with Andy in Baltimore, then finally making the move with Dad to his new house in Ellicott City. Eschewing any respect for Dad's new wife, Tiff quickly claimed the entire ground floor of the place as her sole domain, and made sure her toys were well scattered and in plain view around the otherwise impeccable house. This past spring at Easter Dinner, a 19 year old Tiffany successfully defended her space against the curious intrusions of Ann's son's Cocker Spaniel.

Actually, she kicked its ass. Twice.

Pets are always "family members"... but some weave themselves into the story more than others. Tiff was definitely one of those.

(May, 2006 - 18 years old - last week in Bowie)

Then I stopped by my friend Rachel's because she made Cheesy Grits. Cheeeeeesy Grits. When I got home, Sara was there with leftovers from her family's traditional feast, as well as an insane sweet potato cheesecake. After she left, I went by Colin's and we cracked open the last two Natty Boh's I brought out with me, then opened up a very rare 1970 Chateau D'Alorgnonsomnableu somethingorother. To drink something older than you are is remarkable (even if it was corked and a bit vinegary). Combined with family phone calls throughout the day, and a clear appreciation of just how much I have to be thankful for, it was damn near perfect.

Not much else going on these days. A neighborhood stray cat has adopted me. He's hearty and well-groomed, so I think I'm just on his rotating schedule... but some nights he's hanging out on my doormat when I come home from work. Only wants to come in and warm up, then runs right back outside again.

I've got some music projects going, but nothing that's 100% me yet. I'm finding a good deal of ego out here embedded in bands that don't really deserve it, don't feel like wasting my time.

The other big source of fun has been taking the Subaru out to the mountains and living out my rally driver dreams in the snow. Its very cool living in a place where I can more or less drive 45 minutes into another climate entirely, then come back before dark. Ski season starts next week.

(china?)

So you probably figured out, we're still hanging out now and then. Hard not to.

I think we came out here with way too much riding on the relationship... like it was just magically going to make everything else work out. Actually, its the other way around... I think we really just needed to focus on making everything in our individual lives work out.

But there are some things we do very well together. Last night was a trip to Beneroya Hall to see the Seattle Symphony do Brams' 1st and 2nd. Amazing pieces performed by an equally amazing orchestra, and near perfect acoustics ruined only by the nervous old lady shuffling the program behind me at all the critical moments and gushing endlessly about the curly-haired young cellist (whispering loudly to the people next to her, "he's sooo cute - and yet sooo humble!"). The added perk was seeing the violinist who looked like a long lost brother of Billy Gibbons.

Earlier this week, we finally made close contact with Mt. Rainier on an uncharacteristically clear day. The hike was Rampart Ridge trail, a little under 5 miles but with a pretty impressive vertical... and an even more impressive payoff.

By the time we got back down to the trailhead, we had a few minutes left to make it to the peak of Paradise Ridge and get an almost supernatural view of the south face of Mt. Rainier in the middle of an absolutely perfect sunset. That also put us above the snowline, and I made my first snowball of the season... only about an hour from my apartment. This place is amazing.

As to everything else going on... I sought out some wisdom from a few trusted, impartial sources elsewhere in the industry and let myself calm down a little bit as well. I'm going to stick it through and see what the turnaround is like with this job... I know enough about my work ethic and effort level alone, plus those around me, to know that a big change for the better is inevitable... it'd be a shame to walk away this early into the game.

(Of course, I've said that before about a whole lot of things...)

Its also the anniversary of Otis and Shirley coming home from the shelter with me. Who'd have guessed how much life would change since then? Since I got out here, they've been keeping Andy company back in Greektown. He says he's definitely enjoyed their company, though now I'm going through withdrawal. Cats on planes is never fun, but that's going to be the big winter project...

I knew going in that this place had a few years of poor performance to make up for. Hell, that's the reason I was hired! But to suddenly make us (part of the solution) have to pay a significant penalty for preexisting conditions... it just isn't right no matter how I look at it.

Furthering the irony, some of the figures the powers that be were looking at to compare "us" to "the competition" included those of my previous employer... which is to say the hard work I put into the old job has now somehow contributed to instability and uncertainty at the new job.

I'm just... really mad. I still want to stick it out and see what kind of turnaround we're going to have (things are already making a huge improvement), but both my co-worker and I went through a lot to get out here, and only one month into the job, I'm having a hard time believing anything I hear from these folks. Unfortunately, now more than ever, I have to put myself first, if for the sheer fact that I have little left to sacrifice.

Friday's antics took me out towards Mt. Rainier. I wanted to immerse myself out there just so I would stop accidentally saying, "Everest". People looked at me weird when I said the day was so clear, I saw Everest from my apartment. If you didn't know, Everest... I mean Rainier... is a 3-mile high snow-capped volcano that is visible from almost everywhere in eastern Washington. Most of the other "minor" mountain peaks here (either the Olympics in the west, or the Cascades in the east) are about 5k feet and are beautiful in and of themselves... but when you see Rainier, your brain stops for a second to simply take it all in...

Another part of being here for a month is realizing that I can't keep eating and drinking with the "Hey, I'm new here!" gusto I have been. Dammit. So I'm gonna be 30 in a week and 2 months. That's not a huge deal in and of itself, but it makes me think a little more about how I take care of myself. I've decided I'll have 5% less body fat by January 9th. The rain has been hindering my bicycling, so I got a membership at a small, non-skeevy gym a few blocks away.

Not much else going on... saw Darjeeling Limited with Sara the other night down in Tacoma. A great movie with a good friend, and then we had a fantastic Indian meal afterwards. Good stuff. The movie itself was typically Wes Anderson. Not quite the depth of character or complexity of emotion in some of his other movies, but a little more tongue-in-cheek humor and a relatively short runtime made it more easily enjoyable, and the scenery of rural India eclipsed the already high standards of his typical production design.

Blah blah blah. You want production design? I'm watching the "Gemini Awards" now. Its the Canadian Emmys. Corey Haim is a presenter. He said, "been" with a long E. Yet another perk of Seattle life is being able to watch CBC television. Did you know they have their own TV shows? Bookended with Tim Horton's ads? Actually "Little Mosque on the Prairie" (I'm not kidding) is pretty good.

Ron Maclean just won a Gemini for Hockey Night in Canada. Don Cherry wasn't in the audience. Oh, and Howie Mandel won an "international achievement" award. For telling numbered women to open suitcases.

O, Canada.

Talked to my dad last night for the first time since truly settling in here. It was a nice confirmation that this is all both real and going very well. Even though he's still in Maryland, we both have undergone a pretty significant change in the idea of "home" recently, and it was good to hear that we're both experiencing similar mental and emotional flashbacks now and then. Not necessarily wistful... just a refreshing memory of what once was that pops up and goes away before you really think too much about it.

I also spent some good time with Sara yesterday. Things seem to be going really well for her. Granted, its only been two weeks since everything came to a hilt, but its clear she's on the right track and looking at her life (and the world around her) much differently these days. When you're honest to others yet still true to yourself, its hard not to be happy with life.

Yay bourbon.

The nearby town of Snoqualmie has a strange little collection of old, unrestored trains in the middle of town. I realize this is nerdy and somewhat uncomfortable, but I'm gay for old trains.

On an unrealted note, the History Channel's programming has really fallen off in the last few years.

Watched Hotel Chevalier the other day... then found that The Darjeeling Limited isn't released in Seattle save for one screening next week, and there's no offical wide release date that I can find. I could definitely use some Wes Anderson, even if he is going for the unabashed French New Waviness recently. If you're going to imitate, imitate the masters. Say, for instance, turning Natalie Portman into Jean Seberg. Mmmm.

So tonight's the last night for Chick Hall's Surf Club, a DC blues, zydeco and rockabilly institution for 50 or so years. I spoke with Clarence on the phone just before he took the stage and wished him a good farewell set. I'd give anything to be on stage right now with him. I'm in need of a soul fix.